The importance of intentional media consumption

Have you ever stopped to consider the impact of the media you take in every day? Barnabas Piper shares the problem he sees with media consumption, even in his own life.

“Many of us have become passive recipients of media. We are cisterns collecting whatever flows our way. We just sit and let it wash over and into us. Such a position is the easier to take, but also the most mindless and the least God-honoring. Curiosity is active and seeks truth.”

“Most of us just float through life with media around us. We live in a world that is saturated by many different forms of media and we rarely think about them.”

Barnabas encourages each of us to answer several practical questions regarding the media we allow ourselves to experience.

What might our media consumption be taking from us?

“Media steals from us, if we let it. It can add to us, but it can also steal from us if we’re not careful.”

Barnabas uses the practical example of how his media habits influence his relationships with his daughter.

“It’s much easier to scroll through my Twitter feed than it is to talk to my 8 year old. In that instance, media is taking away from a real person and a real relationship. My 8 year old deserves my focused curiosity about her day, her drawing, and about her dance class.”

Media can also take away from our joy and our faith.

“Sometimes we’re so consumed by all these things that we see that we forget the God that we serve.”

Another question Barnabas says we should ask is: what is media consumption giving me?

“Let’s look at something like Instagram or Facebook. Often what they are giving us is a perception of other people’s lives that makes us dissatisfied with our own. So, we have to be conscientious of that. However, they can also give us connections to people we would have lost connection with.”

Media is a tool that can be used to glorify God or to distract us from His call on our lives. How will you choose to use media?

Barnabas Piper is the author of The Curious Christian, The Pastors Kid, and Help My Unbelief. He co-hosts the popular Happy Rant podcast and 5 Leadership Questions podcast and writes for The Blazing Center as well as numerous other publications and websites. Piper speaks regularly at churches and conferences around the country and lives in Nashville where he works for LifeWay Christian Resources.